Defying Gravity
by chrmdbabysisp5
Summary: Shelby Corcoran nd her daughter Rachel r BWay stars. Their names reach even the smallest towns, such as Lima, Ohio. Quinn and Rachel were BFF's back in the day and Shelby has surprisng connections of her own. What happens when they go back? Please r/r
1. Something has changed within me

**Defying Gravity**

"Something has changed within me. Something is not the same. I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. Too late for second guessing; too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap. It's time to try defying gravity. I think I'll try defying gravity. And you can't bring me down."'

Summary:

Shelby Corcoran and her daughter Rachel are well-known Broadway Stars. Their names even reach Lima, Ohio; Rachel and Quinn were BFF's back in the day and Shelby's got her own surprising connections to the small town. What happens when the super-star duo returns to Lima? R&R

Chapter 1: "Something has changed within me. Something is not the same…"

"Brrriiiinnggg!" The bell's shrill cry pierced everyone's ear drums as it signaled the beginning: the beginning of a new day; the beginning of a new school year; the beginning of the rest of their lives. These thoughts, among others, swirled around in Rachel Corcoran's head as she slammed her locker shut and gripped her new coach bag. She scanned the hallway to find who she was looking for and found her. She smiled to herself; this was going to be fun.

Quinn Fabray held her head high as she marched down the hallway of McKinley High. She would soon become this school's queen B, the HBIC, and head captain of the Cheerios, the cheerleading squad. Her two best friends, Santana Lopez and Brittany S. Pierce walked besides her as they elbowed all underlings away. "Out of my way, losers." She muttered, eyes searching for a certain person. They happily found their destination, causing a slight smirk to play upon her lips. She knew there had been a major change in the person her eyes had fallen upon, and much explaining to be done about said changes, but she also knew that they would have plenty of time to catch up and gossip as two old best friends often do.

The person smiled at her with just as much confidence as she had the first time Quinn had laid eyes on her. She marched right up to the girl and grinned brightly back. "Rachel!" She squealed excitedly, hugging her old best friend. She saw Santana and Brittany's confused expressions out of the corner of her eye and knew she had some explaining to do.

After releasing Rachel from her death grip, she took a breath to explain. "S, B, meet Rachel Berry, future Broadway star. Rachel and I went to an acting camp every summer and attended the same private school before daddy let me go to public school! We also lived in the same apartment building when I lived in NYC!" She said excitedly, her face glowing at the old memories.

Rachel smiled at Santana and Brittany, and Quinn knew Rachel was deciding right then and there if they would be friends. Apparently they passed, because Rachel gave them a genuine smile and said "it's great to meet you! And as Quinn said, I'm from NYC and I'll be here for a while so we might as well start to get to know each other now!"

Brittany clapped excitedly and hugged her new friend. Rachel let go of Brittany and glanced at Santana uneasily, knowing just from the look of the girl how tough she was. Santana gave Rachel the once-over and decided to accept the friendship. They did sort of a one-armed hug and knew from then on they had each other's backs. Quinn grabbed Rachel's arm and Brittany and Santana linked pinkies as they walked down the hallway to their first class. Other people scrambled around them to get to class but backed against the lockers to let them pass; the Fab Four, Quinn thought with a smirk.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Quinn gave her first slushie to Jacob Ben-Israel. She had told the girls it was because he was a freak; which, well, he was. But it was also because he had been staring at Rachel too long for her liking, and decided he needed to be taught a lesson. She knew she was on her way to being on top; she had a legacy to fulfill after all; her older sisters Gracie and Shannon had both been Queen B's when they attended McKinley, so it was only Quinn's duty to keep up the tradition. They had also both graduated valedictorian of their classes along with being offered full rides from all of their schools. Overall, Quinn knew she had a lot going for her but she also knew she had quite the reputation to keep up.

Rachel met Quinn at her locker as planned. Santana and Brittany had already left, apparently very anxious to get to Brittany's empty house, as Brit's parents were away for the week. Quinn slammed her locker shut and turned to her best friend. "So, your place or mine?" She asked Rachel brightly. Rachel pondered the question for a second and answered, "how about mine? My mom is at her new job and won't be home until late tonight, so it would be just us." She said as she opened the door to leave the building. "Okay, sounds like a plan. I think my mom has her lady's book club this afternoon anyway." Quinn agreed, while putting air-quotes around "lady's book club". The book club was just a cover-up; an excuse her mom used to get her husband out of the house and a time where she could drink with her friends. Of course, she had to use a lot of precaution, as her husband cared greatly about the family's reputation. So Quinn crammed as many activities in to her schedule as possible so she would be at home only to sleep and eat.

The parking lot had already emptied out by the time they reached their cars. Quinn opened her car door and got in, and after checking her reflection in the mirror and waiting for Rachel to start her car, followed Rachel out. When they got to Rachel's house, Quinn was surprised yet pleased to see that it was only a block or two from her own. They walked up to the front door and Rachel put the key in and opened the door.

The largeness of the Corcoran house on the outside was nothing compared to how large it was on the inside. Rachel turned on the lights and the heat kicked on. She checked the messages on the machine and hung up her and Quinn's coats.

"Thanks, Rach." Quinn thanked. "No problem." Rachel replied. "So can I get you anything? Something to drink, eat?" She asked. "Just water would be great, thanks." Quinn said. "Okay, sounds good. Want some popcorn?" Rachel asked. "Sure why not?" Quinn replied.

Rachel got Quinn's water and put the popcorn in the microwave. Light popping could be heard, breaking the silence that fell over the rest of the house. "So how have you been?" Quinn asked Rachel. Rachel sighed, and Quinn realized for the first time how tired she really looked. "Truthfully?" She asked. Quinn nodded. "Tired. That's mostly why we moved. Mom noticed how unhappy I was on Broadway. Don't get me wrong. Broadway was…is…amazing, Quinn; absolutely fantastic. The magic that went behind it and on stage; you would love it! Rachel sighed again, this time almost wistfully. "So why'd you go?" Quinn asked

A sad, longing look crossed Rachel's face and Quinn noticed again the tired glaze held in Rachel's eyes. "I couldn't take it anymore, Quinn. The life on Broadway was not the life for me to grow up in. Mom and I, we had fun. We did. But then everything changed after I met Alex…" Rachel said, her voice trailing off slightly.

Quinn quirked an eyebrow but said nothing so her friend could continue. Rachel paused a minute so she could take the popcorn out and opened it. They began to eat the buttery, salty goodness and Rachel continued on her story.

"Alex played Glinda. She was everything Glinda was- smart, cute, sassy. Working with her was fabulous. We had so much fun together and quickly became great friends. That was when I learned that romance and the stage should never mix.

Quinn had to interrupt at this point just for clarification. "So you're gay." She stated, making sure no air of opinion followed her comment. Rachel shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd prefer to think of it as love has no gender, no labels. It does not know men or women, just what's in the heart. I could like a guy one day yet still find a woman equally attractive the next. If you really want to label it, I guess I'd call it bisexual, but I'd really like to call it love." Rachel explained.

Quinn nodded in understanding. "I think I get that; I guess I'm kind of the same way." Rachel gave her a questioning look but continued on with her story. "Anyway, Alex…Lexi and I really connected. We had something really good on stage and it felt so…right being together. I think maybe that's what I fell in love with- the stage presence." Rachel took a sip of her water before continuing.

"So, after our third performance, Lexi brought me to the cast after-party as her date. We dated a lot after that and pretty soon became a couple. My mom hadn't really noticed that something was going on. I wasn't hiding it or anything, but she just didn't seem to notice." Rachel said. "So, anyway, it was probably about October of last year when the problems began. Lexi was my first girlfriend; I mean, I'd been in relationships before, but they'd all been boys. So anyway, we'd been dating for about 6 months and she began pressuring me…not exactly for sex, really, but just to do some things I didn't feel very comfortable doing; PDA type of things. I mean, I wasn't ashamed or anything, but I also didn't think that it was anyone else's business. But Lexi, she was all about gay pride and waving the big rainbow flag around in everyone's faces. I just wasn't comfortable with that." Rachel took a sip from her water. "So what'd you do?" Quinn asked, wrinkles of concern etched on her face. "Well, I didn't want to lose her relationship, so I figured if I gave her something big, she wouldn't feel so concerned about public display anymore" Rachel answered, quirking an eyebrow to see if Quinn would understand what she meant. Quinn scrunched her face up and wrinkled her nose "so you had sex with her?" She asked. Rachel sighed. "That was the plan, anyway. But then before it happened, she…" Rachel paused, trying to keep her composure. "What, Rach? It's okay, you can tell me." Quinn said gently. "She almost raped me."

Rachel said, covering her face with her hands. Quinn felt a rumble in her chest full of anger and fury, nothing like she'd ever felt before. It was like a monster was inside her trying to crawl out. She wrapped her arms around Rachel and engulfed her in a big hug. "So you see, that's why I left. That's why we moved, along with my mom's job offer. Mom thought it would be good for us to get a fresh start, and I could go to school like a normal kid and learn how to live a normal life. And since mom grew up in Lima anyways…" Rachel said through her tears. Quinn brushed away a strand of hair that was hanging in front of Rachel's tear-stained face. "It's because of my stupidity that this happened, and now everything's ruined." She sniffed. "Hey. You look at me." Quinn said forcefully, but gently, and cupped her hand under Rachel's chin and made Rachel look at her. "Rach, none of this was your fault. You're young, talented, smart, funny-everything that makes a girl or guy go crazy for you. But it's their responsibility to control their emotions, not yours. You keep yourself in check like you should; it's not your fault if they let things go too far. Though you did say almost- would you like to explain that?" Quinn said sternly.

Rachel cracked a small watery smile before clearing her throat so she could go on with her tale. "Well, I mean, almost because she had locked me in my dressing room and was going to do it, but thank the lord that Jake, who played Fiyaro, had left his lucky comb in my room and had key to it, so he found me and saved my life. Lexi tried to play it off as I had wanted it just as much as she did, but I had actually told Jake everything and he knew that this was not what I had wanted. Lexi's in jail now, but it's still-just, frustrating." Rachel said.

Quinn nodded in understanding. "I do know those pressures that relationships have. Guys in high school are complete idiots, and girls are not much better. We are at an age where we think we are invincible, and this is completely and utterly false. Stupid, maybe. But certainly not invincible." Quinn said, giving Rachel a smile. Rachel smiled back, and the monster in Quinn's chest subsided and a warm fuzzy feeling rumbled in its place instead.

**A/N: So, hope you've enjoyed this story so far…pretty long first chapter I hope it's good. Review if you want- it might push me to update sooner if you like it. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Im thru with playng by the rules

Chapter 2: I'm Through with Playing by the Rules of Someone Else's Game

**Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own the genius that is Glee. If I did, I would not need fanfiction as a creative release as college professors apparently believe more in using your intellect then they do in using your imagination. **

**A/N: I was going to wait until after the holidays to update, but in light of the holiday spirit and the fact that it's snowing, I thought this would be my Christmas present to you. Please enjoy; reviews would be wonderful. **

Quinn and Rachel fell into a comfortable silence as Rachel shuffled around the kitchen, prepping things for dinner and chatting with her old friend. Quinn told Rachel all the secrets of McKinley High she would need to know in order to form a place at the top of the social pyramid. Not that Rachel truly cared about such manners as Quinn once had, but it would be nice to have friends and be respected by classmates. Quinn made Rachel promise she would try out for the Cheerios and in turn Rachel made Quinn promise to try out for Glee.

Quinn had originally thought Glee club was the club for people on their way to loserville. However, once Rachel suggested it and she actually looked into it, she thought it might be fun. Back when she had lived in NYC and her family didn't care about reputation quite as much, she'd enjoyed the acting camps she and Rachel had gone to. They had always done the musicals at their old school, taking the lead parts each time. They were known for their talent, and had ruled PS 120 with it. Quinn smiled at the memory, hoping that maybe this time they could rule McKinley together too.

"I hope pasta is okay for dinner? We're not too imaginative in the kitchen around here. Not like you anyway." Rachel said, and Quinn smiled when Rachel had remembered her love for cooking. Quinn had ambitions much like Rachel, but she dreamt of being a chef and running her own restaurant someday. Broadway was a nice dream, but she kind of knew that's all it would ever be for her. Of course, become a chef was also a nice dream because she knew her father would never approve. The Fabray family was filled with lawyers, doctors, surgeons, professors, and soldiers. Those were the appropriate occupations for her family. She would have to settle for cooking being only a hobby.

If Quinn wanted to be honest with herself, she really did not care about father's acceptance. She stayed on his good side for financial aid. It wasn't that Russell Fabray was some crazy lunatic who only cared about appearance and reputation and keeping up the family's name; growing up in NYC had taught him more than that. But he did want the best for his children and wanted his children to be the best. She knew her older brother Ben really wanted to do architecture, but so knew his father would not approve. So he figured architecture would be a side job for when he retired from the Army. He had actually graduated from West Point with a degree in architecture, but he had to promise his father that the Army came first. Quinn also knew that her brother Derek had ambitions to become a physical therapist and work with children, but he had compromised with himself and had to settle with becoming a pediatrician. It wasn't bad, really, but he just hated settling. Her brother Jake, who is Derek's twin, is really the only Fabray who ever got away with not working in the family occupations because he works in the Secret Service and is with the CIA. He wasn't allowed to really tell his family anything about what he does, but he comes home every once in a while and makes up for it then. Quinn was always interested in his stories and knew that they were probably mostly true, considering what he did as a job.

Quinn felt like Shannon and Gracie were the only ones who were really happy with what they did with their lives, besides Jake anyway. Shannon was a big-shot lawyer who was the youngest partner in her firm. She was an author on the side and wrote big professionals law books along with her novels to make her father happy. Gracie became a professor in philosophy. Quinn knew Gracie had wanted to work with younger kids, but also knew her father would be more comfortable with her as a professor, so that's how she compensated with that. Quinn also knew that as the baby of the family, she would have to do something extraordinary for her father's approval if that was what she wanted. For the longest time she had wanted to be an astronaut, figuring that was something nobody in her family had ever done but also something her father would approve of. Of course, then she grew up and became much more of a realist which was why she began looking into careers such as being a lawyer, professor, or doctor.

The sound of Rachel opening the refrigerator snapped Quinn out of her thoughts and she blinked away the haze that had become her daydream. "Hey, what do you want to drink with dinner?" Rachel asked as she dug through the contents of her refrigerator. "Um, I think I'll just stick with water." Quinn said, figuring that was the easiest. "You sure? We have milk and juice and stuff." Rachel said, pouring herself a glass of soy milk. "Yeah, I'm sure." Quinn replied. She refilled her glass and set it on the table as if to prove a point.

"Everything's ready, we're just waiting for mom. She should be home in fifteen minutes or so. Do you want to go up to my room while we wait?" Rachel asked. Quinn nodded. "Sure. I'd like to see your room…if it's any different from the one in your apartment." Quinn smirked, remembering Rachel's powdery-pink room that had been fit for a princess. That is, until Rachel announced, at the age of 8, that she had grown tired of constantly living in a room that looked as if Barbie had used as a puking bag, and opted to paint it in an obnoxiously bright yellow. Two years later, right before Quinn because her mother had not let her use black, decided to paint her room the darkest shad of purple she could find.

"No, no, it's nothing like that I can reassure you. I've grown up a lot since those days, you know." Rachel said quickly, and Quinn raised an eyebrow in question. "What? It's just a nice shade of lavender." She stated, and opened the door to show Quinn. Quinn looked in and after inspecting Rachel's color choice, she had to agree it was a nice change. Rachel had also used sponge paint to decorate the walls of her room, and they had formed a nice rainbow-like figure on the walls. It almost looked like a sunrise. It was very soft and sophisticated, a huge step forward to what Quinn had left behind.

"Well, what do you think?" Rachel asked with a shy disposition Quinn had never seen in her before. Quinn looked around once more, and cleared her throat before she spoke. "I think it's great!" she said genuinely. "It's a huge improvement from your past…um, decoration." Quinn said with a sly grin. Rachel threw a pillow at her. "Hey!" She said, and chucked the pillow back. It would have continued but then the front door opened and a familiar voice floated up the stairs. "Rachel, sweetie? You upstairs?" Shelby Corcoran asked. Quinn smiled in spite of herself. She had always liked Rachel's mom, and had when she was younger she had wished that her mom was more like Shelby. Not that Quinn's mom wasn't good, it was just she usually went along with her father. Shelby was always talking about being an individual and having your own thoughts and opinions, not just following society. "Yeah, mom, be down in a second. Oh and someone else is here that I'd like you to meet. She's joining us for dinner." Rachel said. "Oh. Who is it?" Shelby's voice asked in interest. Quinn and Rachel went down the stairs and appeared at the landing. Shelby turned around and her face brightened when she saw Quinn.

"Quinn Fabray! I was hoping you would still be in Lima! It's great to see you after all these year!" Shelby exclaimed, walking over to give Quinn a hug. "How's your family doing?" Shelby asked as they sat down to eat. "Still as big and boisterous as ever." Quinn said, giving Shelby a grin. "Though at the moment it's just me and mom at home. Dad's currently working on some big case in D.C and everyone else has moved out or is at college. So it's pretty empty." Quinn commented. "That has to be a big change compared to what you're used to. Not like me and Princess here." Shelby said. Quinn shrugged. "It's okay. It's almost better sometimes. I miss my siblings, but it's kind of nice to have some privacy for once!" Quinn replied.

"I always did like going to your house when all your siblings were home. It felt so lively and filled with energy. Our house is always quiet." Rachel said, passing the pasta to her mom. Quinn laughed, "Well considering you practically grew up on the stages of Broadway, I guess my house would be pretty comfortable for you- filled with drama and people and ugh, all that stuff." Quinn said, wrinkling her nose in remembrance.

"Speaking of siblings, how are yours doing? Are they bearing alright away from home? Is Ben overseas yet?" Shelby questioned curiously. "Mom, don't interrogate Quinn! It's like you're giving her the third degree or something! Rachel scolded her mother embarrassed. "I wasn't giving her the third degree, honey. I was merely catching up as we haven't seen the Fabrays in about what, 6, 7 years?" Shelby replied, defending herself from her daughters' accusations. Quinn smiled at the two. She really had missed Rachel and her mom, and was again very happy that they had decided to move to Lima.

Quinn cut in their bickering and said "Ben's actually home from the service for quite a long time now, possibly for good. He's done 4 years in Iraq already and decided he wants to stay home and do something at the bases at home. He also wants to get started on his architectural business and has received many offers from his buddies who he graduated with. The others are good the last time I talked to them; Gracie really likes philosophy and is working towards some big degree that I can't remember the name of, and Shannon is with Dad in D.C working on whatever case it is they're working on. Everyone else seemed to be pretty good and they're all planning on being home for Christmas, even Jake." Quinn said, twirling a noodle around her fork and eating it. Shelby nodded and said, "Good, good to hear. And what about you, do you like high school? Have you told Rachel all the secrets of McKinley High yet?"

Quinn smirked and said "I've told her basically everything she needs to know to get out of McKinley on top. There all secrets my siblings told me my freshman year, and since we all thought of Rachel as one of us anyway, I'm sure they'd be pleased that I passed the knowledge I gained to her." Shelby smiled appreciatively and commented, "That's good. I tried telling her what I knew about McKinley but I'll bet things have changed since I went there."

Quinn looked at Shelby in surprise. "You went to McKinley?" Shelby sighed. "Yeah, and I grew up in Lima. It's kind of funny coming back because I've seen a few of my old classmates, so it's sort of like not that much time has passed at all."

Quinn nodded in understanding. "I can see how that would happen. You feel like everything should be different because you're different, but when you run into people and they haven't really changed much, it feels like you're a kid again or something." Shelby smiled. "Yeah. Luckily, though, I'm not the kid this time around, and Rachel is." Rachel stuck her tongue out. "At least I grew up somewhere exciting and have just come to Lima to settle for high school!" she said teasingly. Her mother gave her a look. "Yeah, well. High school will be interesting; I can pretty much guarantee that. If it hasn't changed much since I went there, McKinley will be a very good place for you to study social dynamics." Quinn scrunched up her face in confusion. "I don't think we have a class on that." She said, not quite sure what Shelby meant. Shelby laughed and said, "I guess I should have said observe. Rachel's very much into researching how society works and how people revolve around their set ways and what happens when those ways are altered. Philosophy would be a good class for her to take for that, and sociology." Shelby explained. Quinn got what meant and said "yeah, that is pretty interesting. I'm actually taking sociology first term, and I'm kind of excited about it!" Rachel looked at Quinn in surprise and said, "I didn't know you were into that sort of thing, Quinn." Quinn gave Rachel a sly grin. "There's a lot you don't know about me Rachel." Rachel smiled back. "I guess that's true. But then now I get to learn about all of them because, well. We're here. And you get to learn about the stuff you don't know about me." It was then and there that Quinn Fabray realized that she didn't care what her father thought of her. If he really and truly loved her, he would only want what was best for her and what _she_ wanted. This was her turn to live life, not his. With that happy thought, Quinn continued dinner and the start of a great friendship.


End file.
